The Flip Side
by EmilyM
Summary: AU angst in a car.


Title: The Flip Side  
Author: Redfox  
Feedback: redfox19@gmx.net  
Classification: AU, V, A  
Spoliers: None.  
Rating: PG  
Archive: Please ask, I will almost certanly say yes.  
Summary: AU angst in a car.  
Disclaimer: They belong to CC and Fox. Not mine,   
never will be.  
  
~*~  
  
The Flip Side  
by Redfox  
  
~*~  
  
"I don't like it here anymore."  
  
Dana almost missed the statement since she was just   
getting into the car. She slammed the door of the   
dark blue Taurus and relished the cool air coming out   
of the vents. Looking out over the flat east Texas   
landscape, she said, "Well, it's not a very good   
view."  
  
Sam sighed. Dana knew she wasn't talking about the   
scenery. She'd known this would happen, warned her.   
She shouldn't feel sorry for her friend when she'd   
warned her and Sam had ignored it.  
  
Since when did Sam take her advice?  
  
"You okay, Sam?" Dana asked, keeping her voice easy.   
Push, and Sam'd push back. Give her room and just she   
might talk.  
  
"It's just...cases like this..." She bent over and   
fiddled with the air conditioner's controls. Outside,   
it was broiling. Inside the car, with the air on and   
the fan on max, it was just bearable. "They being   
back bad memories, you know?"  
  
"Yeah, I know." Dana sought out her friend's eyes,   
but Sam was looking down at the sleeves of her suit   
jacket. "You okay?" Dana asked. Sam shrugged and   
pulled a few strands of hair out of her neat, dark   
brown ponytail. It was an unusual nervous habit, but   
there wasn't much about Sam that was usual.  
  
"Are we friends, Dana?" she asked suddenly and Dana   
tried not to be hurt by the question. Sam sought out   
reassurance, but only from the people she was close   
to. She never would have asked the question if they   
weren't.  
  
"Best friends," Dana said.  
  
Sam nodded intently, as if hearing something for the   
first time. She pulled a few more strands out of her   
ponytail. "Can we go home then?"  
  
Dana bit back the first comment that came to her mind   
which was that she hadn't wanted to be on the case   
from the beginning. Dana was the one who had argued   
that this wasn't an X-File. That Sam was going to   
take it too personally. All she said now was, "Sure."  
  
Sam gave her a grateful smile, then looked past her   
at the dark green house and Dana knew she was   
remembering. "I wish I could have met your brother,"   
she said, hoping the statement would actually be   
conciliatory and not just bring up more bad memories.  
  
Sam smiled again and restarted the car. With an   
embarrassed shrug, she put the Taurus in Drive and   
pulled away from the house. The tires kicked up a   
cloud of dust. When they'd pulled onto the paved   
road, Sam said, "He was a good kid. He used to   
tease me, but that was just him being a big brother.   
When it was really important, he came through for   
me." She stopped the car at a red light and Dana   
knew she was trying to decide how much to say.   
"Dad used to get angry when he drank. Fox   
would...he protected me. Right up to when they   
took him."  
  
The light changed and Sam got the car moving again.   
"He was a good kid," she repeated. Dana barely heard   
her over the air conditioning when she added, "I wish   
I knew what kind of man he became."  
  
"You'll find out," Dana said. "You'll find out what   
happened to him."  
  
"How can you be so sure," Sam asked. She could be so   
fierce, so brave when she had to be, but right now   
she sounded like a tired little girl.  
  
"Because you're not going to give up," Dana said.   
"You won't stop until you find him." 'Even if it   
kills you' added the part of her mind that worried   
about things like that.  
  
"He would have done the same for me," Sam said.  
  
Dana tried to picture the man Fox Mulder could have   
been, if he'd never been taken. "Yes," she said, "he   
would have." For some reason, she knew that to be the   
absolute truth.  
  
~*~  
Completed February 14, 2002 


End file.
